


aurora

by manfred_stone



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Hermann Gottlieb saves his boyfriend, Light Angst, M/M, Newton's Not Okay, Post-Movie: Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Romance, Science Husbands, based on tweets, but he's getting there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-04 11:39:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14592237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manfred_stone/pseuds/manfred_stone
Summary: «How many times do I have to tell you, Hermann,» A familiar voice chuckles softly. «Call me Newt.»





	aurora

Hermann feels helpless, powerless at the sheer strenght of the situation that had just developed in front of his eyes. He is purely at bay of his own emotions, which wasn't really something he was used to, but lately it's become hard not to feel the pull of his feelings. Not when Newton Geiszler is in front of him, not when he was _like that_.  
He tightens his grip around his cane, takes a few more steps forward, the figure in the chair seems unbothered much to Hermann's disdain. The silence bothers him, there's something wrong with silence when Newton is involved, in years of waiting for noise from him, Hermann has learned that _silence is bad_.  
  
He turns on the only light in the room, placed in the middle of the room and incapable of providing enough light for Hermann to spot all of the injuries on his partner's body. He's aware of the treatment provided to the other man during his stay in the cell, and he knows it's hard for some guards to hold back when the cause of so much loss was there in front of them. It's both heartbreaking and understandable, but Newton himself is not to be held accountable for what the precursors have done.

He's come close to him now, and his chest clenches tightly, he can't tell whether it's the fear of being caught with no autorization in the middle of the night in Newton's detainment cell, or the fact he's spent so much time torturing himself about losing contact with his lab partner, blaming himself when he'd tried to reach him dozens of times but only met a hard wall. Hermann partially blames himself, thinking he should've understood there was something wrong, but mistaking the symptoms with annoyance towards him. He knew he often got mad at Newton, he knew they bickered and argued to no ends in their shared lab, but there never was hatred on his side, Hermann enjoyed Newton's company without realising it until he left. He never got to know the suffering Newton had gone through after he abandoned PPDC until it was too late. Although what he regretted the most was that he never really understood the nature of his feelings towards Newton until it was too late, he was already far away and didn't answer his texts or calls.

 

The angry red marks on his wrists scream _let me out_ more than he could ever do at night and it’s exactly where he places his hand, he doesn’t know if it’s because he doesn’t want to see the wounds on Newton’s skin or if he wants to make sure he’s actually there, in front of him.  
One thing he knows for sure is that he cares for the man in front of him, he cares for him so much that he’s willing to risk his life to have his true self back.  
  
He gently brushes his thumb against Newt's knuckles and feels his tendons tense under his fingertips. It's strange, most of the times he's seen him, Newton was unresponsive, blue eyes glistening in the dark to remind him of the constant presence of the precursors inside him. Hermann has been dying for the chance to touch him, and now that he is, indeed, touching him, he can't resist himself. Better, he can't resist the feelings he's been pushing back for so long, years spent mercilessly neglecting the skein forming in the back of his head. His hand skitters forward, beyond the metal around his wrist, over his exposed, colourful forearm, tracing the folds in the fabric of his black shirt until it reached the collar. Hermann huffs at his own frustration in dealing with the whole... _thing_.  
It has been hard for him to deal with the stress, exhaustion and anxiety saving the world kindly gifted him, but it‘s harder for Hermann to stand the bare sight of the man he’s come to love stripped of everything that made him _Newton_.

His head is bent down, he’s not looking at Hermann, he’s not looking anywhere even though his eyes are open. It's scary, not only because Newton is unmoving and unblinking, but also because Newton is _never_ still, _never_ silent. With time, Hermann had come to define him as a big, messy splotch of colour that stained his life. He had grown to love the hues of his magnificent personality until Newton was wiped out from his sight and head. Now all there is left is an empty spot in his mind where Newton used to be. Hermann is afraid to even think about the possibility the man he's known for decades has ceased to exist, and all there's left is a shell for the precursors to use as they will, he refuses to give that thought any weight because if he even considers this idea as an option, it means that it could be true and he definitely doesn't want it to become realer than it already is.

His fingers meet warm skin once more and the warmth is reassuring, a sign that everything in Newton’s body works as it should even though his mind definitely doesn’t. When Hermann trails his soft touch over his neck, up to his jawline, he feels the other man’s breath falter for a second, his eyes open a little more, his lips tether as if they itched with an unsaid sentence.  
He continues his tentatively affectionate exploration of Newton’s skin until his hand gently comes to rest over his cheek. Hermann hesitates, considers pulling away but denies himself the cowardly idea of leaving when he’s so close, then he tilts Newton’s head upwards. His features are mostly identical to the last time he’s seen him up close, except for the addition of a few wrinkles and the absence of his thick spectacles.  
It hits him with a small delay, but when it does, Hermann feels stunned by his own feelings.  
  
By jove, he _loves_ this man.  
  
It’s taken him years to come to this conclusion but he couldn’t be more certain of himself when he says he’s in love with Newton Geiszler and nothing could hurt him as much as seeing him so broken.  
  
He sets his cane against the leg of the chair and uses his now free hand to cup both his cheeks, holding his head up, the light spilling onto his soft face. He follows the light as it drips down to his lips, and he stares at them in complete awe. He’s been thinking about kissing those lips for so long he can’t think of a time when he hasn’t thought of touching them with his own.

Newton blankly stares down, somewhere undefined, somewhere far, where perhaps he’s his old self and he’s happy. Hermann would gladly join him where he’s happy, where they’re both happy.  
He is not tearing up. He’s just imagining a situation where he’d be happy with Newt, and he casually happens to have tears in his eyes.

«Newton, I don’t know if you’re there anymore, but if you are, please, I beg of you, fight. You’re a good man, Newton, you're good enough and you’re stronger than what you believe, you can and will defeat the precursors. There’s not much I can offer, but my love for you and I will support you, with all of my old, enamoured self.»

There are tears on his cheeks by the time he’s done speaking, but he doesn’t care. Hermann’s leaning in before he can register it, or maybe it’s Newton who moves, though it’s highly unlikely, but their lips are touching and he is pulling him closer, caressing his skin as he moves one of his hands behind his neck, supporting their kiss.  
  
Hermann doesn’t open his eyes, not even when he hears a soft moan, or the sound of the restraints on Newton’s wrists being pulled, he’s afraid everything will vanish if he dares peek at what’s happening.  
Newton opens his mouth and their teeth clack together when they try for an open mouthed kiss, but they try again and it’s hot, Hermann is now somehow straddling Newton’s lap, falling forward to meet his lips until they’re out of breath and he finally opens his eyes.

«How many times do I have to tell you, Hermann,» A familiar voice chuckles softly. «Call me Newt.»

Hermann stares at him, ten seconds, then twenty go by and he hasn’t even blinked, but he’s staring because Newton is looking up at him, a big goofy smile on his lips and tiredness in his eyes, but he looks happy and suddenly it all becomes too much for him to handle.

When he breaks down into sobs, Newton can’t hug him, he can’t pat his back and rub circles into it, but he looks at him with a trembling smile and tears in his eyes until he’s crying too. He’s gained back control onto his own mind and literally every piece of him hurts, but Hermann has just told him he’s in love with him and then kissed him, even believing in him, knowing he’d defeat those mind controlling aliens. It’s perfect, the way Hermann grins through his tears and catches his shirt to pull him into a soft kiss. He hiccups against his lips, and there’s a weird mixture of tears and snot on his cheek but whatever. It’s perfect, Hermann is perfect, and he’s so in love with him, they’re in love and the sheer fact Hermann loves him back pulled him away from the precursors’ grasp.

He still feels them in the back of his head, gnawing at his ego, his consciousness, desperate to be back in command, Newton won’t let them, he pushes them away and again, and again until he’s so exhausted keeping his head up is a problem. He rests his head against Hermann’s chest, his sobs soften as well as his partner’s, they synchronise their breaths. He’s fighting them back with an intensity and strength he never knew he had, he looks up at the man he’s hopelessly in love with and knows he doesn’t want to ever part from him again.

He feels Hermann thinking the same.

 

«Hermann, I—» _I love you._

His nose bleeds onto his lips, his voice breaks a little and he sighs, he’s _so tired_.

Hermann shushes him with one final kiss before moving so his left leg doesn’t pain him.

 

«I know, and I do, too. Welcome back, Newt.»

 

**Author's Note:**

> aurora's the princess from sleeping beauty, the one who gets woken up by a kiss, and since deknight mentioned newt'd go back to normal with true love's kiss I thought I might as well give it a try and write something for once.


End file.
